The latest news on COVID-19 developments in Canada (all times Eastern):
6:10 p.m.
British Columbia is reporting 832 new COVID-19 cases and five deaths.
Provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says B.C.’s total number of deaths has now reached 1,463 people.
She says 296 people are in hospital being treated for COVID-19, with 79 people in intensive care.
Henry started her update today answering questions she says she has received from members of the public, including questions about B.C.’s vaccine strategy.
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4 p.m.
Saskatchewan is reporting 199 new cases of COVID-19 Thursday, 115 of which are in the capital city, which has become a hot spot for variants of concern.
Health officials warned that the number of faster-spreading variants is also beginning to rise elsewhere in southern Saskatchewan, particularly Moose Jaw and Weyburn.
The province is expanding vaccine eligibility to people 58 and older as of Friday.
So far, 200,633 doses have been administered.
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3:05 p.m.
Prince Edward Island is reporting one new case of COVID-19 today.
Health officials say the case involves someone under 19 who is a contact of a previously reported infection.
Prince Edward Island has 13 active reported cases of COVID-19.
The province has reported a total of 160 infections and no deaths linked to the virus.
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2:15 p.m.
Health officials in New Brunswick are reporting 10 new cases of COVID-19 in the province today.
One case is in the Moncton region, and the other nine are in the Edmundston region.
There are now 141 active cases, and four patients are hospitalized, including three in intensive care.
Following a recent confirmed case of COVID-19, health officials have declared an outbreak at Foyer St-Jacques, a special care home in Edmundston.
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2:05 p.m.
Ontario is imposing a four-week “shutdown” to combat rising COVID-19 infections.
Premier Doug Ford says the measures will take effect Saturday and remain in place across the province for at least four weeks.
Retail stores will see limits on capacity while restaurants will be restricted to takeout, delivery and drive-thru service.
Ford made the announcement hours after his government’s science advisers said a stay-at-home order is needed to control the third wave driven by deadlier and more infectious variants.
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1:55 p.m.
Two women in their 40s in Manitoba have died from COVID-19 and there are 52 more cases of the virus.
Screening has also identified three more cases that are variants of concern for a total of 270.
There are 148 people in hospital due to COVID-19 and 30 are in intensive care.
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1:05 p.m.
Health Canada says almost three in four Canadians over the age of 80 have now received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, as have one in three people between 70 and 79.
Overall, almost one in six Canadians have now been given at least one dose, with 5.1 million people vaccinated as of Thursday morning.
About 690,000 of those have received both doses.
Health Canada also issued new data by province today, showing Quebec ahead of the rest of the country in vaccinations, with 17.5 per cent of the adult population in Quebec vaccinated with at least one dose, followed by Saskatchewan at 14.9 per cent, Alberta at 14.6 per cent and Ontario at 13.9 per cent.
Nova Scotia trails way behind at 5.6 per cent, with Manitoba second-to-last at 11 per cent.
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1 p.m.
Newfoundland and Labrador health authorities are reporting one new case of COVID-19.
Officials say the case involves a man between 20 and 39 years old and his infection is related to travel within the country.
Public health says contact tracers are still trying to chase down the source of another infection announced Wednesday.
Newfoundland and Labrador hasn’t reported a case of COVID-19 whose source wasn’t quickly traced to travel or an existing infection since an outbreak swept through the St. John’s region in February.
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1 p.m.
Ontario is now offering Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines to residents aged 55 and older.
It’s also expanding the roster of pharmacies offering shots to include locations in every public health unit.
The province is expecting 583,400 shots of the vaccine to arrive today.
It says pharmacies could start offering the vaccine as early as Saturday.
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12:20 p.m.
Canada’s first deliveries of vaccine from the international vaccine sharing program known as COVAX will begin in the next few days.
Maj.-Gen. Dany Fortin, the military commander overseeing Health Canada’s vaccine delivery logistics, says Canada is preparing to pick up 300,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine in the coming days and they will be delivered to provinces next week.
Canada is to get 1.9 million doses through COVAX by the end of June.
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11:10 a.m.
Nova Scotia is reporting three new cases of COVID-19.
Two of the cases are in the Halifax area, with one related to travel outside of Atlantic Canada and the other being a close contact of a previously reported case.
Health officials say the third case is in the western health zone and is also related to travel outside of the Atlantic region.
The province is reporting a total of 24 active cases of novel coronavirus.
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11 a.m.
Quebec is reporting 1,271 new cases of COVID-19 and nine more deaths attributed to the novel coronavirus, including one in the past 24 hours.
Health officials say hospitalizations rose by two, to 487, and 119 people were in intensive care, a drop of one.
The province says it administered 41,406 doses of vaccine Wednesday, for a total of 1,391,649, representing 16.4 per cent of the population.
Quebec has reported a total of 312,362 COVID-19 infections and 10,676 deaths linked to the virus; it has 9,038 active reported cases.
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10:30 a.m.
Ontario is reporting 2,557 new cases of COVID-19 and 23 more deaths linked to the virus.
Health Minister Christine Elliott says there are 743 new cases in Toronto, 484 in Peel Region, and 311 in York Region.
She also says there are 131 new cases in Ottawa, 119 in Hamilton and 107 in Durham Region
Ontario says 84,060 doses of a COVID-19 vaccine were administered since Wednesday’s update.
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10 a.m.
Ontario’s science advisers say stay-at-home orders will control the third wave of COVID-19, which is being driven by rising rates of the more deadly variants of concern.
The Ontario Science Advisory Table makes the findings in its latest pandemic modelling data.
Dr. Adalsteinn Brown, co-chair of the group, says short-term case projections will depend entirely on the public health measures implemented by the government and vaccination rates.
He says the province’s vaccine rollout is not reaching the highest risk communities, which is delaying its impact as an effective strategy to fight the pandemic.
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7:15 a.m.
The Canadian Press has learned that Ontario is expected to announce a 28-day provincewide “shutdown” today to stop the spread of COVID-19.
A source with knowledge of the restrictions says the final details of the new measures are still being worked out.
The source, who was not authorized to speak publicly about the announcement, says schools will remain open after the Easter weekend.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 1, 2021.
The Canadian Press
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version had an incorrect number of active cases in Quebec.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
